TORONTO • A salacious case involving a multimillionaire businessman and his dominatrix mistress accused of hiring a burly ex-con to kill the wealthy man’s wife came to an unexpected end on Monday when prosecutors stayed all charges rather than reveal what they know about a police officer’s romantic links to the widow of a key witness in the case whose oddly timed death he was investigating.

Edward Greenspan, lawyer for Alex Petraitis, the former owner of a magazine distribution company in Toronto, called the twist a “puzzling end,” and said he thinks it masks a “huge scandal.”

“There is nothing that we can do to ask you to force the Crown’s hand,” Mr. Greenspan told Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian MacDonell Monday morning after Crown prosecutor Suhail Akhtar announced a stay in the already troubled case.

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“The Crown is not required to tell the court, to tell the public or to even tell Mr. Petraitis why the proceedings are being stayed…. The decision to end the proceedings now is not a transparent one.

“From our perspective, the timing of the stay of proceedings on the very morning that we were to get access to [the police officer’s] disciplinary records is no coincidence.”

Numbers sometimes speak volumes and here they look baffling: It has been almost eight years since the incident allegedly took place; two prosecutions have ended in mistrials before Monday’s abrupt conclusion; and one reluctant witness was found dead before he could testify.

‘This was nothing more than drug-fuelled, sexual role-playing or fantasy role-playing. They never wanted anybody killed’ — Joseph Neuberger

It is that death — of Robbie Verch of Eganville, northwest of Ottawa, whose charred body was found in a burned-out SUV in a remote area within days of being subpoenaed to testify in the case by Mr. Greenspan — that indirectly led to Monday’s halt.

The case was unusual from the start.

In January 2004, Mr. Petraitis, 69, and Sandra Rinella, 47, were accused of hiring Ms. Rinella’s former husband, Kerry Anderson, who was a biker and former convict, to kill the businessman’s wife of almost 40 years.

The defence insist the plot was only a sexual role-playing game that Mr. Petraitis engaged in with his dominatrix mistress, Ms. Rinella, whom he paid.

One clue comes from Mr. Petraitis wearing a diaper during his first meeting with the would-be hit man.

“This was nothing more than drug-fuelled, sexual role-playing or fantasy role-playing. They never wanted anybody killed,” said Joseph Neuberger, lawyer for Ms. Rinella.

But Mr. Anderson secretly recorded some of the conversations and was bilking large sums of money out of Mr. Petraitis until a friend of Mr. Anderson’s told police and Mr. Anderson was arrested and at least some of the tapes recovered.

These led to murder conspiracy charges against the couple. The Crown dropped the same charges against Mr. Anderson in return for his testimony.

There was dispute over how many meetings were taped. At the preliminary inquiry, Mr. Anderson said he had other tapes but later he said he didn’t. The defence believed he was withholding exculpatory evidence for the purpose of extortion.

After Mr. Petraitis moved to Eganville with his new wife, a friend approached him on behalf of Mr. Verch, who offered him evidence that could prove his innocence in return for him buying property at an inflated price.

When a private investigator hired by Mr. Greenspan found that Mr. Anderson had moved to Eganville, it led the defence to suspect the proffered proof was the missing tapes, leading to Mr. Verch being subpoenaed to testify.

He never made it to the stand.

On Feb. 19, 2010, a mistrial was declared in the case after his death. On Sept. 17, 2010, the second trial started, but also ended in a mistrial. The third trial was scheduled to begin next month.

In the meantime, the defence demanded more information about Mr. Verch’s death.

The Ontario Provincial Police concluded foul play was not suspected. But concern over that probe grew when it was learned that the investigating officer, Detective- Constable Claude Chartrand, had become romantically involved with Mr. Verch’s widow. Court heard that the two were now living together.

The lawyers were told more information was forthcoming. Instead, the charges were stayed.

Det.-Const. Chartrand faces an internal charge of discreditable conduct. He has a disciplinary hearing scheduled for next month.

“We also conducted an investigation into matters that he had been involved in as an investigator and determined that the relationship he was involved in did not impact the integrity of any of his investigations,” said Inspector Dave Ross, an OPP spokesman.

“Mr. Verch, that was investigated and foul play was ruled out.”

Brendan Crawley, spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney-General, said there is little he can say about it because of the stay.

A message left for Det.- Const. Chartrand at the Upper Ottawa Valley OPP detachment where he works was not returned Monday. National Postahumphreys@nationalpost.com

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